Merged elections office taking shape

Board members for Richland County’s newly merged election and registration office aren’t convinced the agency needs a full-time position to educate voters.

Wednesday, the citizen board went through a dozen job descriptions and their proposed salaries, as director Lillian McBride organizes the office joined July 1.

McBride already has hired away two employees from the S.C. Election Commission: her deputy director, Gary Baum, and voting systems coordinator Cheryl Goodwin, who will maintain the county’s 1,000 voting machines and train an equal number of poll workers.

Baum had been with the state election office since 1990, most recently as director of training. His county salary is $66,500.

Goodwin, an expert on voting machines and the creation of election databases, had been with the state 17 years. Her salary now is $66,000.